It was no picnic Monday evening for plans for a $1 million redesign of downtown Plymouth's Kellogg Park.

Opponents of the latest proposal — which includes widening walkways, moving the fountain westward and adding a seating wall on the park's Main Street side — turned out in force to urge city officials to lighten their approach and keep the park's character intact and the fountain where it is.

At least 160 people crowded into the Community Cultural Center auditorium for a Downtown Development Authority workshop Monday, applauding in support of many of the approximately 20 critics who stood up to say the redesign would leave the park generic, unappealing and with too much brick and concrete at the expense of open space and trees.

"It's our quirky park" and residents want to keep it that way, said David Rucinski, a leader of a petition drive calling on officials to retain the feel of the park in any redesign and not move the fountain.

"The DDA board should not miscalculate the citizens' very strong attachment to Kellogg Park," Rucinski added. The petition drive has collected more than 1,000 signatures, he said.

Designers said they want to bring more definition to the park, but Jeff Sisolak said the look proposed would make him feel "like a hamster on a Habitrail" while at the park. "It would make me feel corralled in there," Sisolak said.

With the DDA taking the lead, city officials are planning a redesign and restoration of the park, including a new fountain, in time for next year's 150th anniversary of Plymouth's incorporation as a village. There is no firm deadline, but City Manager Paul Sincock said a construction period of about four months will be needed.

The project is estimated at up to $1 million and officials say it will be paid for through private donations, not tax dollars.

Back to drawing board?

DDA chairman Oliver Wolcott said a DDA "working group" reviewing the plans would soon meet to go over the points made Monday.

"The feedback we're getting here will be taken into account," said Wolcott, who is also a city commission member. "If we need to modify, we will."

The park plans were developed by Russell Design of Northville and the fountain plans by WESCO Fountains of Venice, Fla.

Landscape architect Marc Russell said the intent included connecting the park more strongly to the surrounding streetscape, particularly the commercial area along Main Street; upgrading green space by improving the soil and replacing trees; moving the fountain 21 feet to the west in order to bring it to the park's center; and connecting the park to the green space just east of it, across Union Street in front of the Wilcox House, which is also city parkland.

"The park is tired," Russell said. Some of the 33 trees on the site, he said, are weak and diseased and would have to come down eventually. Most of the park's trees are Norway maples, he said, and are not suited for conditions there. "We need to introduce new species," he said.

Russell also said the park needs more definition; to accomplish that, in part, he proposed a low brick wall, which would invite people to sit, extending from the crosswalk across Main Street south nearly to Ann Arbor Trail.

In addition, Russell's plans call for new park entry features, canopied tables and chairs east of the fountain and gaming tables, such as for checkers or chess, in the space in front of the Wilcox House.

Union Street at Ann Arbor Trail, Russell said, would be rebuilt with the ability to close it, through the use of large planters that could be easily moved, for use during special events. That, he said, would link the green space in front of the Wilcox House with the larger park. (Sincock said that Union Street was dead-ended in that spot, at Ann Arbor Trail, until 1973.)

Most at the meeting, however, were not buying the proposed changes.

"It seems to me that what we're being told here is we have to destroy the park to save the park," Tim Herman said.

Some, though, spoke in favor of changing the fountain — in its current location.

"The fountain is broken. Let's fix it. The park is not broken. Let's leave it alone," Joe Elliott said.

Current plans for the fountain would increase its total diameter by four feet to 35 feet, lower the wall that surrounds it to 18 inches to make it more comfortable for sitting and upgrade the plumbing and electrical systems. The water feature itself would have a round platform, of several tiers, in the center, with a six-foot center water jet, encircled by a variety of smaller jets. The jets' sprays would be remotely controlled and would have a number of variations.